~~debbydo~~
Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 19683
Location: Hertfordshire
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| Tell a Friend Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:12 am Post subject: Lie-ins are good for the brain |
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Lie-ins are good for the brain,
study says
It is the news teenagers always take for granted: a lie-in is good for the brain.
Lack of sleep can lead to lower grades, according to the study
These are the findings of a group of leading psychologists at the University of Rome, aptly being announced this weekend as the clocks go back to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), giving people an extra hour in bed.
The team has analysed more than 100 studies on the effects of sleep on mental tasks and found that being awake for too long can have a serious effect on the ability to learn and remember new information.
For students, a bad night’s sleep could even result in worse grades, they discovered.
Giuseppe Curcioa, Michele Ferrara and Luigi De Gennaroa have published their findings in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews.
Recent studies in molecular genetics, neurophysiology and cognitive and behavioural neuroscience have strengthened the idea that sleep may play an important role in learning and memory,” they wrote.
One study they looked at compared health, behaviour, sleep complaints and school performance of “normal” and “poor” sleepers.
It found that 21 per cent of people who had trouble sleeping failed one or more years at school, while similar problems were observed in just 11 per cent of those who got more sleep.
And a study of 3,000 high school students in 1998 showed that students with higher grades reported more sleep, earlier bedtimes on school nights and less erratic sleep patterns at weekends than students with lower grades.
The researchers said: “Sleep loss is frequently associated with poor declarative and procedural learning in students. Studies in which sleep was actively restricted or optimised showed, respectively, a worsening and an improvement in neurocognitive and academic performance.”
The clocks move back one hour at 2am tonight as British Summer Time (BST) gives way to GMT.
Many argue that summer time should be kept all year round, but this is opposed by those who believe that it could bring regional disadvantages, for example in the far north-west of Scotland, where the sun would not rise until 10am in the middle of winter.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has led calls for Britain to abolish its practice of following GMT in winter.
It claims there would be 450 fewer fatal and serious road accidents if clocks were set one hour ahead of GMT in winter and two hours ahead in summer.
Source The telegraph |
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